The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau has said that the Federal Government was poised ‎to reposition the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to compete with its global counterparts.

He spoke at the occasion of the graduation ceremony of the 7th Staff Course at the Immigration Command ‎and staff College in Sokoto on Tuesday.

Dambazau identified modern migration as a major area of focus for reforms in the Ministry of Interior and NIS‎ in view of “associated socio-economic and security challenges, including mass cross-cultural migration, human trafficking, terrorism and financial fraud, among others.

“This effort is in consonance ‎with the noble objective of repositioning the Nigeria Immigration Service into a world class migration management agency that favourably competes with its counterparts anywhere in the world,” the Minister stated.‎

‎Dambazau viewed the training as a critical component of Federal Government ‘s “commitment to achieving the overarching goal of entrenching seamless service delivery, which can only be successfully implemented through a well trained and motivated work-force with high sense of professionalism.”

While promising to be more proactive in addressing issues that affect the NIS in a more holistic manner, the Minister told the graduands that ‎the training was aimed at better performance. “Needless to remind you that you are essentially the drivers of the Service and this is why you were brought together to share knowledge and experiences as well as to update you on policy direction of the Federal Government. ”

Earlier speaking, the Commandant of the College, Assistant Controller of ‎Immigration (ACI), Audu Gambo stated that 43 graduands participated in the 7th Staff Course undertaken by the Immigration Command and Staff College Sokoto‎.

According to him, 29 of the graduands were Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) and 14 Superintendent (SI), which‎ cadres were the middle operational level officers ‎that has high professional competence and staff duties for the Service.

“These graduands ‎are not just leaving this College with certificates but also with great deal of knowledge to enhance the proficiency of their performance in the Service in modern migration management and it’s accompanying challenges,” he said.

‎Acknowledging that since the challenges of modern migration and national security was the collective responsibility of all security agencies, the Commandant explained that it behooved the Service “to raise a compact world class security outfit that is experienced and knowledgeable in all field of security and migration management.”

Gambo called for the need to train more officers twice in a year. “This will address the inability of officers in Superintendent and Comptroller cadres to attend the two levels of course offered by the College before elevation to the next ranks.”‎